Iron Strength
by Matatabi-chan
Summary: 6th in Strength Series... When Gates gets fired up over a case involving an old partner, she asked Beckett back to work to solve it. Can Iron Gates hold up through the thick of the case? Will the team be able to hold up against the heavy Iron Gates?
1. Chapter 1

I DO NOT OWN CASTLE!

Chapter 1

Beckett opened her eyes seeing the rays of sunlight coming through the open window. She took a deep breath and smelled Castle's unique scent before she shifted. She smiled, as she looked up at Castle still sound asleep. Her hand rested on his chest and his wrapped around her, holding her tight to his side. It had been a month since the breaking point. Since Beckett resigned her position, since she put her past behind her, since she and Castle started a new way of life together. they weren't sure what to do about her not being a cop but neither of them cared much deciding to take a trip away, ignoring calls from everyone but family. Beckett was glad she had finally taken the trip to the Hampton house. She smiled as she ran her hand up Castle's chest, gently rubbing over his jaw.

"You're up early again." She heard him say before he opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her.

"It's a habit." She smiled. He knew it was a habit. She had been waking up at six in the morning every day since she started at the precinct and he had really noticed the habit since they started spending the nights together. "You're up early."

"It's hard to sleep with you touching me like that." He smirked making her give him a bright smile. She rolled and kissed him making him push up and roll on top of her before a phone ringing beside them made them look at it. Beckett smiled as she reached over to see Esposito's number show up. She pushed the button to silence the ring before dropping the phone and going back to kissing Castle. "Who was it this time?"

"Ryan again." She sighed.

Castle looked at her a minute before he sighed and rolled onto his back bringing her with him. "Maybe you should talk to him. It's been three months since you talked to any of them."

"I know but…" She trailed off rolling onto her back making him push up onto his elbow to look at her.

"He was just trying to keep you safe. He was keeping you alive."

"I know that. It's just that him telling Gates…" She looked at him and he could see the pain in her eyes. "It hurt. It was like a betrayal."

"Yeah but you were on a warpath, you needed someone to take care of you when I couldn't." Castle said shaking his head. "You should talk to him. See what he wants. Same with the others. Maybe they just want to talk."

"Maybe they are just trying to get a hold of me for Gates so she can get me back on the force and punish me." She said making him smirk and shake his head.

"I doubt they would do that. Just talk to them. That's all you have to do."

"What about you? They've been calling you too. You don't need to talk to them with how everything was left?" She asked as he laid back.

"I'll talk to them later. Right now you need to fix what happened between you and your brothers." Beckett gave a heavy sigh before rolling to lay her chin on his chest and look at him. "You know I'm right."

"I hate it when you're right." She narrowed her eyes. "I'm going to get dressed and call them back. You get some more sleep before you need to go to that meeting with Gina." She kissed his cheek and rolled out of the bed as Castle gave a small sigh and he closed his eyes thinking about what Esposito and Ryan would want.

"She's still not answering." Ryan said as he sat in his chair next to Esposito.

"Do you really expect her too? You told the boss about what was going on, you broke her trust and you got us both kicked out." Esposito said. He and Ryan had made up soon after the incident but Ryan knew his partner was still angry with him.

Ryan looked down sadly. "I know, man I told you I was sorry."

"I know. You did what you had to, I know that and Beckett knows that but you know how she is. Try calling her again." He told his friend making Ryan give a sigh and turn back to his phone to dial the number again. "We're going to need her and Castle if we're going to solve this case."

"Good thing we talked Gates into letting them back in." Ryan smirked.

"Good thing Beckett was the best we had and that Castle had connections." Esposito agreed before he turned away letting Ryan call.

Beckett was just pulling on her shirt when her phone rang again. She looked at the id and saw it was Ryan's desk line. She took a breath before she pushed the answer button. No matter how much she didn't want to, Castle was right. She needed to fix things with her brothers. "Beckett." She answered. There was nothing. "Hello?" She asked

"Sorry, I… I didn't think you would answer." Ryan said shocked. "I've been trying to get a hold of you all summer, but no one would tell me where you were. Your dad refused to tell us anything at all. What's going on? You're not dying or anything right?" Beckett couldn't help the small laugh that escaped as she opened the bathroom door. She saw Castle roll over and she dropped her voice.

"No, I'm not dying." She said softly as she made it through the bedroom and into the hallway to the living room.

"Why are you whispering? You okay?"

"I'm fine." She said sternly and a little louder this time. "I didn't want to wake anyone." She said as she walked out onto the porch. "What have you been calling for?"

"I wanted to apologize about what happened. I just wanted to keep you guys from getting killed. I had to te-."

"I know, Kevin. I understand why you did it. I probably would have done the same thing in your position, and I appreciate it. I do, but it still betrayed my trust that we would keep what happened in the family." She stood looking out at the calm water of the lake in the early morning light.

"I know it did, I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't mean to make you leave; I just couldn't see my best friends killed." He glanced around to make sure no one was listening as he spoke to her. "You're not just another cop, a colleague; you not even a best friend. You're like my sister. I'll do what I have to, to keep you safe."

"You're like a brother to me, I know you will always have my back and keep me safe. Just make sure you know I didn't leave because of you."

"What? Then why did you leave?" He asked confused now. All this time he thought she had left because she couldn't work with someone who she didn't trust.

"You betrayed my trust, but I still trust that you'll watch my back. You're my brother and it made it hurt more, yes, but it wasn't why I left." She knew what he was thinking. "I left because I became so wrapped up in the case I wasn't listening to anyone, I screwed up more than just my own head. I needed to set things right and to do that I needed to leave."

"You're okay though?" He asked worried again.

Beckett gave a small smile. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just needed some time to think. That's all." She sat in a chair to the side as she felt the heaviness in her chest begin to lift. "Is Esposito still out?"

There was a slight pause before he answered. "No, Gates brought him back two months ago. She can't afford to have her best detectives not solving cases. She is even trying to track you and Castle down. We could get a hold of either one of you. Gates wants you both back. She wants her best detective and she knows Castle comes with you. You guys are like a package deal." He laughed as Beckett saw Castle walk out onto the porch, handing her a cup of coffee.

"Why does she want us?" She asked earning a look from Castle as he took a seat next to her.

"Because we are getting cases that no one can solve. Javi and I have been doing the best we can but the two of us working with rookies just doesn't work on some cases. We need your thoughts and leadership and we need Castle's crazy theory stories." There was a pause. "Have you talked to him since he left the team?" Beckett looked at Castle before she answered.

"A bit." Again Castle gave a look before his phone started to ring. He stood up looking at the name before he kissed the top of her head and walked inside to answer it.

"If you need to go…" He trailed off.

"No it's fine. It was someone else's phone." She knew they deserved to know the truth but she wasn't ready to have everyone know about them. Not just yet, and she knew Castle wasn't ready for the reveal to Gina or the press. "So what do you want me to do?"

"We need you to help. We have a case that came in a few days ago and the rookies just can't match us. One of them threw up at the crime scene. We need the talented Kate Beckett back and Gates is going to allow it." Beckett gave a small sigh she knew she wanted to go back, she knew she should help them get justice for the families but she needed to think about it. Beckett needed to know she would be able to stay away from her mother's case permanently.

"Can I let you know?" She asked hoping he would agree.

"Yeah, sure. Just call Javi or me, we're both working on getting a hold of you and Castle. And tell Castle if you talk to him…." There was a pause and she could hear something in the background. "Oh, he's talking to Javier now, so… just think about it."

"I will. Thanks for calling."

"Yeah, no problem. Talk to you later." The two hung up and Beckett took a breath before pushing up and walking in the house seeing Castle on the couch. She walked over and leaned on the back of the couch watching as he looked at her and gave a small smile.

"I'm sure she knows that…. yeah…" He said before Beckett moved closer and started hearing Esposito's voice.

"Bro, we need you guys back here. Ryan just talked to Beckett and she said she would call him back. What about you?" Castle looked at Beckett wondering what to say. She moved closer to whisper so Esposito could hear her.

"Tell him you'll think about it." She said.

"Dude, I didn't know you had someone over. I'll let you go."

"It's fine." He said looking at Beckett. "I'll let you know about going back."

"Alright." Castle heard Esposito give a small sigh. "Listen, I know it's none of my business who you go out with and all but… dude, you really need to get things out in the open with Beckett. She loves you but she's afraid to do anything to change her life. You have to do something and get things straight with her." Castle smirked as Beckett looked confused, not able to hear any more.

"We'll see. Look I got to go. I'll let you know if I decide to go back." He hung up and looked at Beckett.

"What?" Beckett asked confused.

Castle smiled before pulling Beckett over the back to land in his lap. "Esposito telling me to set things right with you. Apparently you love me." He grinned making her smile and shake her head. "Is that true, detective?" He asked making her look at him.

"I'm not a detective." She reminded him.

"You want to be." He replied looking into her eyes. "You want to go back and work cases; you want it to go back to the way it used to be." She shook her head.

"Not everything." She placed her hand on his chest, as she looked into his blue eyes. "I want to go back and be a detective. To solve murders and give families the justice but I don't want to lose you. I don't want to lose myself."

Castle leaned down giving her a quick kiss. "Well Gina has been wanting me to write another Nikki Heat novel. Maybe we can work through everything together. Take on each obstacle as it comes."

"You want to go back?" She wondered. "You'll stay with me?"

"Always." He replied with a smile before they kissed and were soon heading for the bedroom to repeat the night before.

Five hours later Beckett went to lay down at Castle's loft while he went to his meeting with Gina. He was going to tell Gina he was going back to work at the precinct and would have another novel for her. Beckett smiled as she lay down. They were going to be a team again. Working side-by-side solving murders, that no one else could. She pulled her phone from her pocket and called Ryan. There was no answer so she called Esposito.

"Detective Esposito." She heard.

"It's me. I wanted to let you and Ryan know that Castle and I will both be coming back."

"Both of you? You talked to him?" Esposito asked wondering if the two had fixed what was off between them.

"Yeah, we talked about going back and we'll be there in the morning to talk to Gates."

"Alright, we'll see you tomorrow." The two hung up and Beckett laid back onto the bed, snuggling into the softness of Castle's pillow and blanket.

The next day came fast. Beckett woke to the alarm Castle had set the night before and she climbed from the bed to get a shower as Castle went to start the coffee before he went to get his own things ready for his shower. The two were deeply in love, and loved touching each other but their relationship was more than just sex. They would take showers together and have their fun while in there but they knew this was not the time for it. They needed to get ready to go to work and keep their hands to themselves while there. Starting out with sex in the shower would only make things more difficult.

"Your turn." Beckett said softly as she walked out fully dressed with her makeup perfect as always. Castle smiled as he grabbed his shirt from the closet. He gave her a kiss as he passed towards the bathroom.

"Coffee should be ready soon." Beckett nodded and left him to shower and dress as she went to set out the coffee for the two of them. Beckett was finishing the coffee when her phone rang.

"Beckett." She answered as she continued to fix the coffee. "Yeah, okay." She hung up as Castle walked out dressed and ready to go. "Looks like we have a fresh case that Gates wants us on." She told him.

"Now this sounds interesting." Castle smirked taking his travel mug of coffee as she took hers and they left to go to the first crime scene in a month. Pulling up she found Gates at the door to the apartment where the crime scene was.

"It's about time you got here, Detective." Gates said handing her back her badge and gun. "Now get to work. I want this solved quickly." She said sternly before walking away. Beckett and Castle walked into the crowded apartment and found Esposito and Ryan walking towards them looking worried.

"Gates is not happy." Ryan whispered as they passed them to talk to another neighbor. The two could tell Gates was on one of her rampages when they walked in.

"She really is having a bad day." Castle said as they stopped by Lanie examining the body.

"Probably because of who our vic is." Lanie told him as she leaned back, away from the body. "You two got her fast."

"And at the same time." Esposito joked as he walked past them to join his partner. Lanie looked at Beckett who rolled her eyes.

"So who's our vic?" Beckett asked getting the topic back to work. She bent down across from Lanie as she started explaining.

"John Taylor. He's from Narc. Four GSW to the chest. I'll have to run some more tests but it looks like he was mixed up in some stuff. Which would add to why your boss is storming around the crime scene."

"What do you mean?" Beckett asked her friend

"There's white powder around his nose." Castle said as he leaned down to get a closer look at the body. "You think he's mixed up in drugs?"

"Wouldn't be the first time a Narc cop got hooked." Beckett said standing up as Ryan and Esposito walked back over. "What did you come up with?" She asked them.

"The wife found the body when she came home from work and called 9-1-1. They have two kids who have been at her mother's for the last few days and were supposed to be there another three days. They were going to celebrate her new position at her company so her mother took the kids for a few days." Ryan explained.

"The neighbors said they heard a man and woman yelling and then what they thought were gunshots." Esposito started. "A few called the cops and reported it. A few minutes later they heard the wife scream and she called 9-1-1. No one got a look at anyone leaving. They were too afraid to look."

Beckett nodded and looked around the room. "See if you can get any video or if anyone saw someone leaving about the same time." The two men nodded and went off to start their search. Beckett and Castle walked over to where the wife sat. "Hi, Mrs. Taylor. I'm detective Kate Beckett, this is Richard Castle. We're just going to ask you a few questions about what happened."

"I already told the other cops." She said as tears ran down her cheeks again. "Why do I have to keep saying it?"

"I know it's hard, but we just want to make sure we get every detail. Sometimes going over it several times with the police can help remember something." The wife nodded and gave the same story Ryan and Esposito had told her. "Okay. Thank you."

"Please, get whoever did this to him. Please." She begged.

"I promise I will do everything in my power to get the person who did this to your husband." Beckett told her before she and Castle turned away to walk back down to the lobby. They stopped to talk to Ryan and Esposito on their way out. "Any tapes?"

"The manager is getting what he has." Esposito told her before looking at her and Castle. "so how did you two show up at the same time if Castle's coming from farther away?" he grinned as Beckett turned away not wanting to even answer the detective but knew it would only get worse.

"I told you Castle and I would be back in the morning, I got your call and picked him up. It's faster than waiting for him to get here. Not that it's any of your business." She shook her head as Castle just shrugged at the detective. They weren't ashamed of their relationship or each other but at this moment they still wanted to stay quiet until they were sure they had their relationship worked out so that jealous fans, sarcastic and gloating coworkers and stalker paparazzi didn't have a chance to cause any problems.

"Sure." Ryan said as if he didn't believe her.

"Get what you can. We'll meet you back at the precinct and we'll get everything on the board." Beckett said before she and Castle left the two shrugging and getting what they needed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Beckett!" She looked at the boys who looked worried before she walked into the office. Castle walked over to the two as they tried to look busy.

"What's going on?" Castle asked.

"Gates is looking for heads to roll." Esposito told him. "She's really on the rampage. You might want to sit this one out, bro." Ryan nodded in agreement before they saw Beckett open the door and shut it. She started walking over to her desk angrily making the three men walk over to her desk.

"Grab everything we have and take it to the conference room." She said flatly, as she looked through the files on her desk.

"Everything okay?" Castle asked making her slam the files on her desk and look at him.

"She wanted us back, she told me so and then she turns around and wants updates and to know everything we have and starts getting upset cause we haven't caught a lead yet. She's going to be in the way." She said making Castle glance at Gate's office. Beckett grabbed the white board and rolled it in with Castle following her. Esposito and Ryan took seats and Beckett shut the door. "Okay what do we know?" She asked before something at the window caught her eye. She looked over making the others look and see Gates walking away. "What do we know?" She asked again.

"We know that the wife found the guy dead when she came home from work." Esposito started.

Ryan added, "The neighbors reported arguing voices of a male and female."

"CSU is combing the place, and techs are looking at the videos." Esposito finished. "Other than that we know he was shot four times in the chest and a possible connection to drugs." Beckett wrote what they knew on the board and turned around.

"Okay, get all his case files, see if there was something he was working on that could have caused this. Also, check into his financials for the usual. See if we can't get a break somewhere in there." The two nodded and were off. Beckett turned back to the board with a file in hand, as she tried to find anything that they haven't listed yet.

"Anything Beckett?" Gates asked at the doorway.

"Sir, we just started." Gates gave an angry look before walking away.

"She's on a real stampede today." Castle commented making Beckett look at him.

"Don't make things worse." She told him before she sighed and sat on the table waiting for anything more to come in.

"Why is she this bad?" He asked her.

She shook her head and looked up at him. "I don't know. Could be because it's a cop. She could be getting the higher ups pushing down on her. It could be anything Castle. Just don't mess with her for now." He nodded before he left to make coffee for them as they waited.

The two drank their coffee reviewing the reports and the files until Ryan walked in and handed Beckett another file. "He's been busting a lot of dealers. A few are on probation now. Two guys and one woman who stuck out. They threatened him when he arrested them for dealing."

"You and Esposito go talk to them. Castle and I will go talk to his chief about his busts." Ryan nodded and left to find Esposito to do as they were told. "Let's see if we can get some more background about his work." She turned grabbing her jacket and left with Castle following her.

"Chief Mase." Beckett said as she stood at the doorway.

He looked up at her and stood. "Yes, please come in." Beckett and Castle walked in and stood in front of his desk. "You must be here about John."

"Yes, unfortunately." Beckett nodded. "I'm Detective Kate Beckett from the 12th and this is Richard Castle." She introduced.

"So you're the one who got stuck with a civilian." The chief said giving her a sympathetic look. Beckett gave a small smile as she looked at Castle looking a bit dejected before she looked back to the chief.

"It's not as bad as you would imagine. He's actually pretty helpful." Beckett saw the man look between them. "We would like to know about Detective Taylor and his cases. Were there any that seemed to be a threat?" She asked.

"The guys we catch can be pretty bad. I'm sure you know a little of how bad perps hopped up on drugs can get. John didn't get more than anyone else." Beckett nodded listening to the captain. "There's not much I can tell you. He did his job, did it damn well."

"Did he receive any threats that seemed particularly threatening?" Castle asked making the captain look at him.

"I don't know what you think we do here but every threat against every detective is taken seriously and taken account of." He told Castle, not happy to have a civilian asking him questions.

"Do you keep a record that we could look at? Might give us a place to start." Beckett told him taking the captain's eyes away from Castle. "Two members of our team are getting a few of the reported dealers that are on parole but if you have any other suggestions as to where to look or who to talk to."

"All threats were reported and the ones that seemed real were placed on a look out. You can have access to all the files if you'd like." Beckett nodded her thanks.

"Did he have a partner?" Castle asked making the captain look at him once again with distaste for being questioned by him.

He looked at Beckett as she started talking. "Could we talk with his partner? There might be some thing's that they could tell us that will shed light on this case." The captain looked at her a minute before looking out at the bullpen.

"Wayne Garison. He's been John's partner since they started in Narc." Beckett nodded. The captain led the way out into the bullpen. "Wayne." A tall man dressed in a white button up shirt with a dark red tie turned to look at him. "This Detective needs to talk to you about John." Wayne nodded and they walked off to the break room and sat.

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett, this is Richard Castle." She introduced as they sat down. "What can you tell us about your partner? Was there any particular threat that seemed like it could be really meant?"

"I don't know how much I can tell you. he was a great guy. Always helping everyone he really loved his job." Wayne told them.

"Was there anyone suspicious who tried to talk to him or maybe he was acting strangely?" Castle asked making Wayne furrow his brow and looked from Castle to Beckett.

"What? What are you trying to say? John wasn't like that. He was a great guy. He loved his job; he was happy to get these dealers off the streets so his kids could go out and play. He wasn't into this stuff to score or-"

"It's just routine questions." Beckett told him. "We need to know every little detail we can get to be able to piece everything together."

"I just… John was a good man and a great partner. He loved his wife and kids more than anything in the world. There is no way he would have gotten into anything. He wouldn't risk putting them in trouble." Wayne told her.

"What about friends, anyone he talked to a lot?" Beckett asked making the man think a minute.

"He talked to a few guys from his old unit. We all went out for drinks a few times." He looked at her making her nod. "He was from I.A." Beckett looked at him a minutes.

"And you still don't think anyone had a problem with him? Internal Affairs can cause a lot of bad blood." Castle offered. "Maybe someone was angry about an old investigation?"

"No sir." He said a bit sternly before looking at Beckett. "He did his job but there was no one bothering him."

Beckett nodded as she stood making Castle follow. "Well thank you for your help. If you think of anything just give me a call at the 12th." The detective nodded and watched Beckett and Castle walked back to the elevator. As soon as the doors were closed, Castle looked at Beckett.

"Did you-?" He started.

"Yeah." She looked at him. "Guess you can't charm your way around everyone." She told him before they climbed from the elevator and back to the car as she called Ryan and Esposito.

Ryan pulled his phone from his pocket as it rang and he took a few steps to the side to answer it while Esposito continued talking to the suspect. "Ryan."

"Hey, Ryan. Did you and Espo find out anything?" Beckett asked.

"No, we're talking to the last guy now, but nothing pans out. None of these guys are our guy. How did you and Castle do?"

She paused a minute before answering. "Apparently no one is very happy to be questioned. At least not by Castle." Ryan would hear the teasing tone. "We'll meet you back at the station. We'll pick up lunch on the way."

"Okay." The two hung up and Ryan went back to Esposito. "Beckett's calling us back." He told his partner before they both turned and started back to the station.

Ryan and Esposito walked in and found Beckett and Castle in the conference room looking at the murder board as they ate. They looked over at the two as they walked in. "You two find anything?" Beckett asked.

"No." Ryan answered her. "The two parolees' stories checked out. We talked to the three of them and even everyone in their buildings and anyone who would have seen them. There's no way the three of them did it."

"They said they remembering him arguing with another officer the other day when they were patrolling the neighborhood." Esposito added.

"Another officer?" Beckett asked as Castle flipped through the file that was open to the side.

"He's only ever patrolled with Wayne Garison." Castle said looking up at Beckett. "Apparently not everyone loved him." Beckett stood up and grabbed her things.

"Let's go bring him in and ask him what he didn't like about his partner." Beckett told him making him stand and follow as Esposito and Ryan watched. "See if you can find anything in his financials. Check the usual." The two nodded, grabbed their food and went to work to find what they could.

Beckett and Castle walked into the station as Wayne was pulling his keys from his desk. "Detective." Castle said making Wayne look up at him and furrow his brows.

"What can I do for you Detective Beckett?" He asked deliberately ignoring Castle's presence.

"You can come to the 12th with us." Beckett told him making him look at her confused. "We have a few more questions we want to ask."

"I have to go to the 12th? What? Am I under arrest or something?" He asked looking at Beckett as she just stared back at him. "You seriously think I have something to do with what happened to John?"

"Just come down and talk to us for a bit and let's clear up a few things." Beckett told him. He didn't answer but his eyes turned with a glare to Castle who spoke next.

"You have nothing to hide, right?" Castle asked.

"No." He said flatly. "Let's get this straightened out." Beckett nodded and let him lead the way out to her car.

Castle and Beckett sat across from Wayne in the interrogation room. "Where were you the night Detective Taylor was murdered?" Beckett asked him as he sat forward in his chair.

"I was home." He said. It was obvious he was not happy about being taken in to interrogation and questioned, especially having Castle sit in. "Why is a civilian in here? This is police work not a place for someone to play cop. John was my friend, he deserves the police work to catch the guy who did this not pretend time and let the killer off."

"I assure you that is not what is going on here." Beckett said. "Castle is a consultant on cases such as these for his knowledge. If you would answer our questions we can get this all cleared up and we can get back to work." Beckett looked at the detective. It was always more difficult to get another cop to answer these questions and slip up since they had the same training she had. "Is there anyone who can corroborate you being home?"

Wayne gave a quick glare before he sat back in his seat. "My doorman. He saw me go in and I stayed there all night."

"We have witnesses who say they saw you arguing with Detective Taylor a few days before he was killed. What were you arguing about?" Beckett watched as Wayne went silent a minute and she could see the wheels turning.

"We were arguing about him reporting to IA about things that weren't true."

"He was reporting untrue things to Internal Affairs?" Castle asked.

"That's what I just said isn't it? I saw him talking to an old partner of his from IA the other week and soon after that, one of the detectives was suspended for accusations that they were letting a drug dealer off the hook in exchange for supply. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together."

"Do you know who the old partner is?" Beckett asked.

"Sure, they were partners for years. John said they had something for a while and things didn't end well. They split up and he came to Narcs." He told them. "He said her name was Victoria…. Victoria Gates." Beckett and Castle paused and looked at each other a moment before Beckett turned back to Wayne.

"We'll look into it. Thank you for your cooperation." Wayne rolled his eyes and stood up.

"If you ask me that old hag came back and got revenge for how things ended back in the day." He told them before walking out. Beckett and Castle looked at each other again not knowing what to think or do before they walked into the observation room where Esposito and Ryan were both in the same mind set.

"What do we do?" Ryan asked.

"We investigate and find what we can. We go where the evidence leads us and we catch whoever killed the victim." Beckett said looking between the three men. "Not a word to Gates about what he said. See what we can dig up before we tell her she's a suspect."

"No reason getting her suspended if it's not true." Esposito said agreeing with her. "We'll check out IA see if we can dig anything up there. See who was reporting to them about the dirty cops." Beckett nodded as he and Esposito left. Beckett and Castle walked back to the conference room and looked at the information they had.

"What do we do now?" Castle asked her as she sat in a chair to think as he sat on the table next to her. "We can't question Gates. I don't even what to think about that." He gave a shiver making Beckett smirk.

"We need to get everything together and see if there's anything that points to her other than what Wayne said." She looked at him and saw the confused look. "Let's talk to the wife again. If they were talking, she would probably know." Castle nodded and the two were off to talk to the victim's wife again.

Beckett knocked on the door to the victim's mother-in-law's house. She and Castle needed to get what they could and fast before Gates was accused. Neither of them exactly liked her but she was the chief the one who had gone out of her way on several occasions to help them and keep them safe so they were going to do what they could to get everything before a decision was made.

"Yes, can I help you?" Asked an older woman. Beckett held her badge up.

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett and this is my partner Richard Castle. We need to speak with Christina Taylor. Is she here?" The old woman looked at the two a minute before they heard a voice from behind her.

"It's alright, ma. They're trying to find who killed John." Christina said sadly, as her mother stepped out of the way. "Come in." She led them to the living room where they all sat down. "I just couldn't go back there. Not…. Not after…" She trailed off as tears came to her eyes.

"I understand." Beckett said. As she took her seat across from the woman. "We were given some information from your husband's partner and we just wanted to ask you a few questions about it." The woman nodded as he mother reached out holding her hand. "Did you know your husband was talking to an old partner of his, a woman named Victoria Gates?"

"Vicky. Yeah, John said they were close but their partnership broke up pretty badly. She started talking to John about three years ago after our daughter was born. She wanted to congratulate us."

"Did he ever tell you what happened? Why they split?" Castle wondered.

"John said that they had started a relationship and things turned bad on the job. She would take risks and get them both almost killed so he broke it off." She shrugged as Beckett gave a small nod as she wrote quick reference notes.

"Did they ever have a fight or anything after they started talking to each other again?" Beckett asked.

Christina thought for a moment before she shook her head. "No, nothing big. They had disagreements when they were helping each other with things on the job but that was it."

"Has she visited and had an argument recently with your husband over work?"

"They were talking about a big drug bust and Vicky didn't want him to go in alone but he said he would have his partner and another team with him. She wanted to send in some of her detectives but he wouldn't let her. She left upset and it took a while for John to calm down."

Beckett glanced at Castle as he spoke next. "When was that?"

"It was last week." Beckett and Castle looked at each other before Beckett nodded.

"Thank you for your time. I'll keep you updated." Beckett told her as they stood. He and Beckett left and called Esposito on the way back. "You guys get anything?"

"Nothing. You?" Esposito asked.

"The wife says they've been talking a while. They help each other with cases occasionally and they argue about them too. Said they had a nasty fight about a week ago about a big bust. See if you can get his captain to hand over the file on the bust."

"Got it." The two hung up and Beckett sighed.

"As mean as Gates can be, I really doubt she did this." Castle told her making her nod. "We'll find out who did. We always do." He smiled and saw a small smirk as she glanced over at him.

"Let's see if Lanie could get anything for us to add to our vast arsenal of evidence against Gates." Beckett said sarcastically as she stopped in front of the ME building. Castle reached over and took her hand making her look at him.

"We'll figure it out. Us, Esposito and Ryan… we are the best there is and you and me are better than ever. We will find out what happened and who did this." Beckett couldn't help the small smile that crossed her lips before they leaned over the center console and gave a quick kiss.

"Let's go before we get caught." She smirked at his mischievous look before they climbed from the car and started in to find Lanie.

Lanie and Alexis were standing together looking over the information they had compiled when Castle and Beckett walked in. "You guys are right on time." Lanie smiled as they walked over to the table that she and Alexis were standing at. "It's good to see you two getting along and working like a perfect couple again. Wasn't sure I would ever see this again when you guys left the team." Lanie gave a look to Beckett. Beckett looked at her friend refusing to give a questioning look to Alexis who in the last month had become a daughter of sorts to her. Castle however looked at Alexis who shook her head slightly at her father to tell him she hadn't said a word.

"What did you find?" Beckett asked changing the subject. Lanie sighed as she looked down at the paperwork.

"We looked at everything we could this guy had loads of heroin in his system as well as cocaine in his throat." Lanie told her.

"But when Dr. Parish did the examination she didn't find any marks or indications that he had been a drug user." Alexis added.

"When I dig a bit deeper I found out why." Lanie explained. "Someone forced it into him. He would have died anyway. The amount in his system was fatal."

"But there wasn't anything at the crime scene." Beckett said confused.

"That's because they used a syringe and jabbed it into his arm for the heroin and then they shoved cocaine in his face which is the white powder that was around his nose." Lanie moved the victims arm to let Beckett and Castle see.

"How did you find that?" Beckett asked looking from the tiny mark the blended into the skin to her friend. "It almost blends in." Lanie smiled and looked at Alexis.

"I wasn't the one how found it. Alexis saw the discoloration and we figured out how the heroin got in his system." Castle grinned proudly at his daughter as Beckett gave a quick smile to the young woman.

"Did CSU find a needle at the scene?" Alexis asked, changing the subject.

Beckett shook her head. "Nothing."

"Someone fit the drug look?" Lanie asked. Castle glanced at Beckett as she shrugged.

"There's a few people that could fit. We'll check them out and see what comes together. Let me know if you find anything else." Lanie nodded.

"How is everything?" Lanie asked Beckett. "Being away for a while… it can be hard to get back in the swing of things." Beckett saw the quick flick Lanie gave between her and Castle. Becket gave a little roll of her eyes before she responded.

"It's like I never left." She said before turning to leave.

"Girl you and me are going to have drinks tonight. You get into all sorts of trouble, resign from your job and disappear into thin air. No word from you at all, your dad wouldn't tell anyone where you were." Lanie looked angry.

"Lanie…" Beckett trailed off as Lanie turned her attention to Castle who was standing to the side silent.

"And you. Castle, you disappeared off the face of the earth. No one at all knew where you were. You two have some explaining to do." She crossed her arms and looked at the two as they looked at each other.

Beckett's phone rang. "Beckett…. Yeah, we'll be right there." She hung up. Saved by the bell. "Ryan and Esposito found something we have to go." She told Castle before looking at her friend. "I'll talk to you later.

"Uh huh." Lanie somehow didn't believe it.

"I promise." Beckett told her.

"Tonight, you and me are going to have drinks. I'll meet you at your house at nine." Lanie said leaving no room for argument before Castle and Beckett left. Alexis watched them walk out noticing the space they had between them. She knew Lanie had seen it too. It was much more space between them than they had had when they were arguing. Lanie looked at Alexis quickly as if asking what was going on.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

between them. What's going on?" Lanie moved making Alexis look at her wondering what to say when Beckett walked back in.

"I need that file. I want to get the pictures on the board." She said and saw the look of relief cross Alexis' face. Lanie looked frustrated as she nodded.

"I'll go make copies." She walked out with the file. Beckett waited until the door shut before walking closer to Alexis.

"What's wrong?" She asked the young woman.

Alexis glanced at the door. "She's asking what's going on. She wants to know where you guys were and what happened. She is asking all kinds of stuff especially since you and dad are acting off." Alexis told her quickly.

"What?" Beckett asked confused.

"You and dad. You're not throwing comments at each other, you're keeping a lot of room between you, you just are trying too hard to be like you were. She sees that and knows I know what happened and she wants to know. Kate…" Alexis looked worked up before Beckett reached out resting her hands on her shoulders.

"Okay." She said softly. "Relax. I'll deal with Lanie."

"She's going to be asking all day." Alexis said loving that her dad was finally happy with Beckett but hating that it was a big secret, which was threatening to come out. She looked at Beckett pleading for her to fix it.

"I'll take care of it." Beckett gave her a little smile as Lanie walked in.

"Take care of what?" Lanie asked as she handed Beckett the copy pictures. "What's wrong?"

Beckett shook her head before looking back at Alexis. "Why don't you and your dad head home. I'll let him know what Ryan and Esposito found." Alexis nodded and looked at Lanie who nodded in agreement. "I'll talk to you later."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Dr. Parish." She said as she pulled her badge off. "Thanks, Kate." She said as she left leaving Lanie to look at Beckett questionably.

"Kate?" Lanie asked, raising her eyebrow as Beckett smiled at her. "What the hell is going on? What happened over the summer? Where the hell were you and what's going on with you and Castle? You're being really careful around each other." Lanie demanded answers as Beckett walked over with a small smile.

"Three months ago, I drug Esposito into a situation that put us in danger and I pushed Castle away. He told me he had been keeping information from me about my case and my mother's murder to keep me safe and I told him I wouldn't stop searching. He said he wouldn't stay and watch me get myself killed."

"Javi told me about what happened. Ryan told Gates about what was going on and you two were suspended and you resigned." Lanie crossed her arms waiting for Beckett's explanation.

"I was pushed over the side of the building and I almost died. I realized what I wanted. What I needed." Beckett took a deep breath before looking her friend straight in the eye. "This goes no farther than here." Lanie furrowed her brow. "I went to Castle that night and told him. I told him everything." Lanie's eyes went wide.

"You… you told him you were crazy about him?" Lanie's was surprised. The way the two had been acting before the suspension seemed like it was going to tear them apart.

Beckett smiled and nodded to her friend. "We talked and made up." She smiled at Lanie's grin. "We told Alexis and Martha and my dad and then Castle and I went to the Hamptons to work out everything and get away from everyone."

"That's where you and he disappeared to?" Beckett nodded. "Why didn't you just answer for us?"

"I resigned and was trying to work out what was going on. The guy got away and I didn't care and then Castle and I started going out…" Beckett trailed off.

Lanie shook her head before she moved forward wrapping her arms around her friend with a bright smile. "Girl, I should smack you." The two hugged and laughed.

"What's so funny?" They heard making them turn and see Castle standing with Ryan and Esposito. Esposito looked at the two women wondering what was going on. "Lanie laying a smack down against KB. This I got to see." Beckett and Lanie narrowed their eyes at him. Castle met Beckett's eyes and she gave him a small smile

"I thought I was going to meet you two at the station." Beckett told the two detectives. "And did you see Alexis?" She asked Castle.

"She's heading home." Castle said. "Saw them in the hall coming to talk to you so I figured I'd see what the new information was before heading home." Beckett gave a little nod knowing he wanted to go home with her.

"So what do you have?" Beckett asked changing the subject. The three men walked over to the empty stainless steel table and they all crowded around as Ryan opened the file he was holding. He turned it and pushed it in front of Beckett for her to read. Lanie watched and saw Castle walk closer to read over her shoulder.

"This points to Gates again." Castle said looking up at the two detectives as they nodded. "Now what?"

"We have to tell Gates." Esposito said looking at Beckett as she continued to read.

"No, see what you can dig up on Gates from when they were partners and see if you can find anything that can point to her doing this now." Beckett said.

"Why do you want to keep searching? There's more than enough there with the reports to make her the prime suspect." Ryan wondered.

"Why?" Castle said looking and Beckett as she nodded. They locked eyes for a minute before Castle pulled his gaze away. They knew they needed to go back to fighting their feelings for each other, at least while they were working for now. "Why after all those years did she decided to come back and be friends then years after that why kill him? it doesn't fit together, there's no story line."

"Check into Gates in the morning. But do it quietly." Beckett chimed in. "We don't want to have her pulled if she had nothing to do with this."

Castle looked back at her. "And we don't want anyone in trouble for looking into their boss." He added gaining an eye roll from Beckett.

"I'll see if I can get anything else for you." Lanie added. "Now you boys go home. We have some girl talking to do." Ryan and Esposito looked at the two women.

"Gone three months and you're going to be all mushy the first day back?" Ryan asked.

Esposito shook his head. "We thought you were tougher than that."

"Shut up and go home." Beckett told them. The two men didn't need to be told again and left. Lanie worked on cleaning up a bit as Beckett and Castle walked over to the door. "I'll see you at the loft in an hour." Castle nodded and glanced at Lanie. "She knows but I have to explain some more."

"Like what?" He asked. Seeing her grin, he smirked and leaned closer. "Don't tell any of my little secrets." Beckett smiled as she rolled her eyes.

"Just go home to your daughter." She laughed softly. Castle leaned down pulling Beckett into a deep kiss that had Lanie staring open mouthed. They pulled back just enough to look at each other. "Keep the bed warm." She whispered with a mischievous smile, as Castle couldn't help the stumbled step back. "You think you'll be able to do that?"

"Always." Castle whispered before giving her another deep kiss. "I'll see you at home."

"I'll call if I take more than an hour." Castle nodded giving her a quick kiss and leaving. Beckett turned around to see Lanie staring open mouthed at her friend.

"Girl, you have a lot of explaining to do." Lanie said as Beckett gave a small smile. "What happened to the stubborn, all work no play detective?"

"She realized she needed some fun in her life." Beckett gave a little smile. "This last summer has solidified everything."

"Then why hid it? I mean it's obvious you two have been in love for years and now it's like you're trying to stay away from each other."

"We want to make sure when we tell people it's not going to cause more problems. We don't want it to cause problems with our friends either." Beckett sighed as she moved closer to her friend. "If Gates finds out she'll kick him out. And if we tell you guys and keep it from Gates it could get you guys in the middle of everything. We want to keep this quiet until we can figure out what to do with work."

Lanie nodded, understanding. "Your secret's safe with me."

"Thanks Lanie."

"Now go home to your man." She saw Beckett smile. "He really has gotten to you this past summer."

"He's just shown me that I can be the tough detective but I can be who I am without my mother's murder defining me." Lanie hugged her tight before Beckett pulled her phone and dialed as she walked towards the doors. "I'm on my way." Lanie saw Beckett smile as she left. She really had changed in the last month. Lanie turned back to cleaning up before heading home herself.

Beckett was on her way out when Gates called making her turn to head back to the precinct. "Hello." She heard Castle say when she called his house phone.

"It's me. I tried your cell but couldn't get through."

"Sorry it's in the other room. Figured I'd start on the new Nikki heat book while I waited for you to get home."

Beckett smiled. She loved hearing him tell her he was waiting for her to get home. "Well you're going to have to wait a little longer. Gates called, she wants to see me at the precinct."

"Everything okay?" Castle asked, sounding worried.

"First day back and she's already running me. I'm sure it's just to see what we have. I'll call you when I'm done with her." Beckett smiled.

"Alright. Don't go getting into trouble one your first day." He chuckled.

"You're the one getting yourself and me into trouble." Beckett teased. "I'm sure I'll be fine." There was a pause. "I'm at the precinct."

"Okay, call me when you're done, Kate."

"I will, Rick." She hung up as the elevator doors opened on her floor. She walked over and knocked on the door to Gates' office. "Sir."

"Come in, detective." Gates pulled her glasses off and stood up as Beckett shut the door and walked over to stand in front of the desk. "I want to know what you found. We need to solve this case now."

"Sir, we are running down leads and searching everything we can. As soon as we have something substantial I will let you know."

"That little vacation you had must have messed with your head. You work in this precinct you do as you're told. You follow my orders. You weren't brought back to just wander around at your leisure." Gates started.

Beckett squared her shoulders as she cut Gates off. "I resigned. You are the one who asked me back to work. You are the one who wanted me on this case. You know my team and I can do a damn good job solving our cases. Let us do what you brought me back for." Beckett looked Gates in the eye and saw the older woman glare.

"Solve this case, detective." Gates said low. The two stared at each other a moment longer until Gates walked back to her chair and Beckett walked out. She passed several officers and detectives who had all stopped and stared, watching her stalk to the elevator.

Beckett drove to Castle's loft, still fuming as she pulled the car into a parking spot out front. Beckett took a deep breath, why had she let Gates get to her. After another minute, she got out and went to Castle's loft. Opening the door slowly, she still felt strange walking into the loft without knocking but Castle had made it clear. This was her home too. She put her keys on the table by the door before looking up to see Castle coming from his office quickly.

"Kate…" He looked at her confused. "I thought you were going to call when you were done."

"I know, I'm sorry." She said making him look at her a little more worried.

"What happened?"

Beckett signed heavily. "Gates and I got into it." Castle looked worried. "She wants this case solved fast; she's not getting rid of us." Castle walked closer as Beckett sighed putting a hand on her hip and running the other through her hair. He reached out resting his hands on her sides as she looked at him.

"Well you're not kicked out and you're still on the case. You're home now so relax. We'll get started on more leads in the morning." He said softly pulling her completely towards him. "Come on, let's go to bed." He pulled back letting her pull her shoes off before they walked towards the bedroom both too tired to do more than changing and falling into bed.

The ringing of the phone woke up Castle. He groaned as he opened his eyes to see Beckett still sound asleep against him. He reached over grabbing the phone off the nightstand and answered it. "Castle." He answered groggily.

"What are you answering Detective Beckett's phone for?" He head. Castle jumped up startled hearing Gates' angry voice.

"I.. uh… she…" He stumbled for words. His brain was not awake enough to come up with an excuse.

"Rick." Beckett said sitting up before noticing he had her phone. She took it from him and heard Gates yelling about Castle mumbling. "Sir." Beckett said stopping her boss' rant.

"What is going on? Why is Castle answering your phone?" Gates demanded. Beckett looked at Castle who mouthed sorry.

"We were talking about the case. Must have fallen asleep." Beckett said quickly. Castle listened to Beckett as she responded to something Gates had just said. "Yes sir….. No sir…. We'll check it out." She hung up with a sigh as she looked at Castle.

"Nice save." He told her with a smirk.

"Some wordsmith you are." She rolled her eyes shoving his arm. Castle grabbed her and pulled her towards him before laying her back on the bed, kissing her. Beckett pushed Castle away a bit. "We have work to do." She said softly. Castle grunted knowing she was right but not wanting to let go. "Castle." He sighed as he rolled over onto his back. Beckett went up onto her elbow and looked down at him.

"Thought we had to get up." He said making her smirk before she leaned down and gave him hard kiss. "Hmm. So is that a no, we're not getting up?" Beckett smiled at him and shook her head.

"We have to do our work." She said making him give her a playful glare before she gave him a quick kiss. "Come on writer boy." She teased as she got out of bed, grabbed her things and went to get ready leaving Castle to push back his want to lock himself and Beckett in the loft for the day.

It took them two hours to get dressed and get to the precinct where they saw Gates demanding things from Ryan and Esposito in the conference room. "You are not getting paid to wander at your leisure. I want results or-"

"Or what, sir?" Beckett said as she and Castle walked into the room. "We are doing our job. We cannot get evidence and arrest someone without doing our jobs correctly."

"You get me something by the end of the day or you will be out on the curb faster than you can resign. You are a detective and you may be the best but I will kick you out if you continue to defy orders." Gates glared before storming out leaving the two other detectives to look at Beckett confused as Castle walked around to wit at the table and look at Beckett.

"What was that about?" Ryan asked Beckett.

"Gates called me in last night and we had it out a bit about the case and her stepping into it." Beckett shook her head and glanced at Castle. "Don't worry about it. Let's just get this case over with. Check into her as much as you can without raising flags." Ryan and Esposito nodded as Beckett turned and left the three men alone.

"Beckett okay?" Esposito wondered. "She didn't really fight back."

"Maybe the summer off really messed up her." Ryan offered.

"She needed the summer off." Castle said making the two detectives look at him. "What?"

"What do you know?" Esposito asked him. "The way you two have been acting, you know something." Castle shook his head trying to look innocent. "Come on bro. You know something."

Castle shook his head again. "She doesn't tell anyone anything. You know how Beckett is." He shrugged and walked out to find Beckett. Castle wandered around the corner not seeing Beckett at her desk. He found her down the back hallway leaning against the brick wall between the pillars. "Kate?" He said softly making her look at him. Her eyes were worried, a look she didn't show very often.

"We need to get this done before she really throws us off the case." Beckett said making Castle give a slight nod.

"Let's take a break for a minute and then see what we can come up with." He offered. Beckett shook her head.

"We have work to do. We need to get this figured out before we have to report what we do have to Gates." Beckett said walking away from him. He knew things would be different from the Hamptons when they returned to work but it was as if they were back to square one again. He took a breath before following and finding her in the conference room looking over what they had already gathered. Beckett glanced at Castle as he walked over and leaned on the table to look at the murder board.

Castle turned to Beckett but was stopped from talking when Ryan and Esposito walked in. "Yo, Beckett." Esposito said as the two detectives walked over to stand beside her.

"We dug into a few places." Ryan started. "We found something you might want to see." He handed her the file. Castle moved closer to her and read the paper with her.

"This makes her look even more guilty." Castle said looking up at the two men.

"Let's give her a chance to explain everything. See if she had an explanation as to why she transferred over a grand to the victim's account two days before he was killed." Beckett closed the file, walked out of the room to Gates' office where she shut the door behind her. The three men moved out to the desks to watch through the window.

"What do you have?" Gates asked looking at Beckett hard.

Beckett opened the file and turned it for Gates to look at. "We have come up with a lot." Gates looked through the papers before looking up at Beckett. "We were trying to figure things out that would illuminate you as a suspect but everything is just piling up. Sir, something needs to be explained for this evidence."

"You have the nerve to walk in here and demand to know what I do in my personal life. You go through my bank accounts, my phone calls; everything and you accuse me of killing my friend." She started to stand up glaring at Beckett.

In the bullpen, Castle leaned against Beckett's desk with Esposito and Ryan standing beside him, all watching the two women in the other room. "Maybe the summer off didn't screw her up." Ryan said with a chuckle.

"Still like a pit-bull." Esposito added with a smirk. "You know what she did for the summer?" He asked Castle who looked at him and glanced at Beckett a minute before looking back at the detectives and shrugged.

"Come on, you know more than you're telling. What's going on?" Ryan said making Castle look at him with his innocent look. "You're glancing over at Beckett when you have to answer a question about her. You're quiet about your summer…"

"What happened?" Esposito asked. Castle was about to answer when the door to Gates' office opened and Beckett walked out quickly. Gates sat back into her seat heavily as Beckett continued walking around the corner to her hide out again without even a glance at the three. "Beckett."

"Boss." Ryan called as Castle pushed from the desk watching her walk away and around the corner. He knew something happened. He knew she could take care of herself, she always had but he still wanted to go to her. He saw the two detectives looking confused as Beckett walked away but glancing at Castle to see what he was going to do. "Man, she looked upset." Ryan mused. Castle nodded still looking to the corner where she disappeared.

"You go." Esposito said making Castle look at him in silent question. "Bro, you're the only one who's ever been able to get her to talk." Castle looked at him a minute longer before walking off to find Beckett.

"Why'd you send him? Beckett will be back when she's settled." Ryan told Esposito who smirked. After a moment, Ryan understood why. "You want to see what they do when no one is looking." Esposito nodded before the two started after Castle. They peered around the corner to see Castle stop and look towards a nook they knew was there.

"Kate?" Castle said making her look at him. She was obviously upset. "What happened?"

"She kicked us off the case." Beckett said softly." Said if we couldn't get anything correct by now she didn't need us back after all. So we're off the case and out of work."

"We've been kicked out before. That's never stopped us from solving a case." Castle told her. "We'll get what we can and finish the work on our own."

"She asks us back and then throws us out because we are doing our jobs." Beckett was trying to sort everything out in her head before Castle pulled her to him and held her. She took a deep breath to calm herself as her arms wrapped around him holding him close. "You're right, we'll figure this out. There has to be an explanation." She agreed

Castle pulled back but still held her as he looked down at her. "We're best together." He smirked making her smile at him. Castle gently brushed a lock of hair back as they stood smiling at each other. He bent, connecting their lips. Pulling apart both stood with a smile not noticing the two detectives who were gaping at the scene in front of them. Esposito elbowed Ryan's side pulling him out of his stupor.

"Let's go." Ryan nodded and they walked back to their desks. "What the hell just happened?" He asked as they sat in their seats.

"I… I think…. Beckett and Castle…" Ryan trailed off still not believing what he had just witnessed. "What do we do?"

"Let's make them sweat it." Esposito said as Beckett and Castle came back around the corner to the desks. Beckett had a small smile as she walked over to her desk and started gathering her things. "Looks like Castle knows how to make you feel better." Beckett and Castle paused for a brief moment, sharing a glance before continuing to gather their things faster as Beckett tried to wave off his comment.

"Yeah, well looks like the case is up to your two." Beckett told them as she pulled her bag over her shoulder.

"What?" Ryan asked confused.

"Gates kicked me off the case." She picked up her keys.

"What about you?" He asked Castle.

"I'm not wanted around here to begin with, I'll be even less wanted when Beckett leaves." Castle shrugged. "I'm going home."

"You guys are kidding right?" Ryan looked between them as they both shook their heads. "What is going on? You guys used to fight to stay on cases, you used to push back."

"Us pushing back on this is only going to make things worse." Beckett told them as she and Castle started towards the elevators with the two men following them.

"Come on, Beckett. You can't be serious." Ryan couldn't believe what was going on.

"I'm going home. Good night." She said over her shoulder as the elevator doors opened.

"Home or to Castle's?" Esposito blurted out making Castle and Beckett freeze. They looked at each other before turning to look at the two detectives looking smug.

"What?" Beckett asked quickly.

Ryan looked at Esposito wondering what he was doing. "You heard me. You come back after not talking to anyone for three months and act like you were gone for a weekend. You're not fighting back or pushing when you did before."

"How does that have anything to do with where I go?" Beckett demanded.

"You act like no one can see it." Ryan commented making her turn her hazel eyes on him. "You two were close but since you came back there's been something off. Come on. Just spill it already."

Beckett looked at Castle who was giving her a questioning look. "Just say it." Esposito said. "We saw your little talk a few minutes ago." Beckett paled and Castle stared at them.

"Fine." Beckett finally said. "You win this time. After I left I did a lot of thinking and then I went to the loft and we straightened everything out." She said hurriedly.

"Well-"

"Rick." She scolded quickly making him shut his mouth earning a look from the two detectives as they looked between the two.

"Oh, it's Rick now?" Esposito teased. Beckett rolled her eyes. "What were you going to say…. Rick?" He pushed. Castle opened his mouth but before he could say a word Becket spun around putting her hand firmly on his chest and was pushing him back a bit as the elevator doors dinged signaling it was ready once again.

"We were kicked off the case so we are going home now." Beckett said as she started pushing Castle into the elevator. "And yes we are going home together. So go snicker and act like children about it." She scoffed as she turned to face Ryan and Esposito. The two stood looking amused and Beckett couldn't help shaking her head and looking at Castle who had a small smirk on his face. As the elevator doors shut, Beckett turned to face Castle, reached up and pulled him into a kiss he happily continued. The two men were left speechless as the doors shut.

"I love when you tease those two." Castle said softly as they pulled apart. Beckett smiled as she leaned into him waiting for the elevator to open so they could go home.

"The look on their face is priceless." She smiled at him.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Alexis was sitting on the couch with Martha talking about what classes Alexis would be taking when she went back to school when there was a knock on the door. Martha went to get more wine while Alexis answered the door.

"Detective Esposito, Detective Ryan." Alexis said looking at the two men.

"Your dad and Beckett home?" Ryan asked making Alexis paused. "We know about them." He assured her.

"Yeah, Kate wasn't feeling well so she went to bed. Dad's in his office." Alexis stepped to the side letting the two detectives in. "I'll get dad." She said turning towards his office as Martha walked over to them.

"Did something happen?" Martha asked. "Richard said they were off the case."

"We just need to talk to them about the case." Esposito told her as Castle and Alexis walked out of his office.

"What's going on?" Castle asked as they walked closer to each other farther in the loft.

"Where's Beckett?" Ryan wondered as Castle glanced at the door to his bedroom.

"She's sleeping, she came home with a bad headache. You need her?" Castle asked the two.

"Might be better to have the whole team." Ryan suggested. Castle nodded and went into his bedroom leaving the door open as he walked over to sit on the side of the bed. Ryan and Esposito watched as Castle leaned over Beckett whispering softly. Beckett rolled a bit to look up at him as he pushed her hair out of her face.

"About time isn't it?" Martha smiled looking over at her son talking to Beckett. "That's what I thought when they told us they finally got together. I mean they've been playing games for four years…" She trailed off as Castle and Beckett walked back out to the living room.

"Mother." Castle said giving her a look making her sigh and walk away.

"Come on, dear. Let's go talk in the kitchen." Martha waved to her granddaughter. The two walked away as Castle and Beckett turned back to the two detectives.

"Okay, you can stop staring." Beckett said sternly.

Esposito snapped from his stupor first. "Can you really blame us?" He asked. "I mean you go to all lengths to catch the guy who killed your mother and countless other and the guy who shot you. Then you just walk away from everything. No calls, emails, nothing for three months. You come back as you never left, and then we find out you two actually got together. What do you expect?"

"What do you want?" Beckett asked running a hand through her hair.

"How about an explanation?" Ryan asked. "It's just so unreal after all these years and all. What happened? Why didn't you talk to any of us?" Castle and Beckett looked at each other before Beckett led them over to the dining room. Beckett leaned on the back of a chair as Castle sat with Esposito and Ryan sitting in the chairs across from them with their backs to Martha and Alexis. Taking a Breath Beckett looked at her two brothers.

"I needed to leave. I needed to get away from all the crimes. I realized that when that guy got away, I didn't care. I didn't care that he got away and there is still no justice for my mother, or myself. All I could think about when I was hanging on the building was…Rick." She said as she looked at Castle. She looked back at her friends. "I did a lot of thinking after I left the precinct, I apologized to my mother and then I came here."

"Why did you apologize to your mother?" Ryan asked. Castle looked at him and noticed Martha and Alexis had turned their attention to Beckett as well.

"For dropping her case. I decided to stop investigating her murder and my shooting. They are both a part of me but it was a choice between death and being happy." Beckett moved around and sat in the seat next to Castle. She smiled at him and grabbed his hand that was on the table and they laced their fingers together. "I chose to be happy." She looked back to the detectives.

"Why didn't you tell us? I mean if you wanted to keep it quiet or something we wouldn't have said anything." Ryan asked looking a bit hurt.

Castle shifted in his seat. "We needed to figure out how to handle things." He explained. "We were working things through for the last three months, but not everything is really fixed with how to balance it, the precinct-"

"And the publicity." Beckett added. "I only answered because he said I should at least talk to you. Let you know I was alright."

"So when I called." Ryan started. "That was Javier calling Castle that I heard?" Beckett nodded "that's who you didn't want to wake so you were whispering." Again, Beckett nodded.

"And that talk we had?" Esposito asked Castle.

"Everything was already worked out." Castle smirked and glanced at Beckett. "She's the one you heard."

"Now you know everything." Beckett told them drawing everyone back to her as Alexis walked around the table, stopping between Castle and Beckett, to talk to her father. "What did you come here for?"

"There's no way we're going to solve this case without you two. Gates is digging in her heels." Esposito said. "You've worked off the books before; we were thinking you could do it again." Beckett and Castle nodded. "We'll do what we can at the precinct and get you the files like last time." Alexis looked at her father as Ryan and Esposito glanced at her. Castle and Beckett looked at Alexis. She was doing much better but still had nightmares occasionally. She was talking to Beckett but Castle knew it was still bothering her.

"Come on." Beckett said as she stood up and led Alexis towards the Castle's office. Esposito and Ryan looked at Castle confused. Castle just watched the two walk away as Marsha glanced at him before following.

"What's going on?" Ryan asked.

"Alexis is still having problems with the kidnaping and everything that happened. She's a lot better, and Beckett helps a lot but she still has nightmares about it." Castle explained. "We'll go through what we grabbed before we left, get us all the information you can and we'll figure something out." He told them making them nod.

"Gates demands that we don't talk to you two so we never came by, we never saw you or talked to you after you left the precinct." Esposito told Castle before Alexis and Martha started walking up the stairs and Beckett sat back beside Castle.

"We'll do everything we can, this time don't get caught printing things." Beckett told the two. "Do your work and we'll get you where to start moving." The two men nodded before standing up.

"You know, it's really good to see you guys back at work. And it really is good to know you guys finally gave in and are together." Ryan said with a small smile.

"It was bound to happen." Esposito grinned between the two. "I'll drop off what we have tomorrow after our shift."

"Let us know if you get a lead." Beckett told him making him nod. "See you guys later." The two detectives left and Beckett turned back to Castle as she put her hand to her head. "I'm going back to sleep. My head is killing me." Castle kissed her forehead before she went back to bed leaving Castle to continue his writing.

The next night Beckett sat back on the couch with Castle on one side, Ryan on the other and Esposito in a side chair. She sighed. The two men had gotten done their shirt three hours ago but no one could come up with anything but Gates as the killer. "What do we do?" Ryan asked. "Everything points back to Gates."

"Not everything." Castle said making everyone look at him. "I'm going through the Vic's arrests. One name kept coming up as the person posting bail for several drug dealers." He moved the file to let Beckett see.

"Ryan, Espo. See what you can get on this guy." Beckett told him.

"If our vic was putting all his dealers in jail it could cause him kill the vic to stop the arrests." Castle theorized. "If the guy had to keep paying large amounts to get his people out of jail he wasn't earning anything from selling drugs."

"Kill the person doing the arrests and start gaining again." Beckett nodded in agreement. "you guys get the information in the morning. Castle and I will go through the rest of this stuff and see if there's anything else. Meet back here for lunch." The two detectives nodded and left Beckett and Castle alone. Beckett was hunched over; elbows on her knees as she searcher her files for anything that could help. Castle looked at her a minute before reaching out and pulling her towards him. "Rick." She complained.

"Let's relax for a bit. We're off the clock." Beckett looked up at him. "I'm tired any way. Let's go to bed and pick back up in the morning." He started getting up and pulling her with him before she finally gave in and followed him to the bedroom where they stripped, climbed into bed and quickly fell asleep."

Alexis walked down the stairs to see Beckett had moved the coffee table out of the way and was now sitting on the living room floor surrounded by files and papers. She paused a minute before walking over to the couch. "Kate, what's going on?" She asked.

Beckett glanced at the young woman before going back to looking at the papers. "There's something here. We're just missing it."

"Where's dad?"

"Still sleeping."

"Do you want some help? Maybe a fresh pair of eyes will help." Alexis offered making Beckett smile and nod. Alexis moved to the couch and took a file from the floor before the front door opened making both look to find Martha walking in with a smile.

"Good morning my dears." Martha smiled "looks who I found in the lobby." She said turning as Esposito and Ryan walked in looking at Beckett in shorts and one of Castle's tee shirts. Beckett rolled her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Esposito asked.

"I'm trying to find something that can help." She explained to him.

"So you sit here in your pajamas and go through everything we have?" Esposito said with a smirk.

"And pull Alexis into this?" Ryan added as Beckett rolled her eyes and went back to looking at the papers.

"She reads Rick's novels, this is nothing." She shrugged.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to you calling him that." Ryan shook his head. Beckett smiled as she glanced at the two men.

"Yeah, I mean for four years it was Castle and now…. it's just not right." Esposito agreed with his partner. "It's great you guys are together but could you just, you know, talk like you did before?" Beckett looked up at him before shaking her head at him with an amused look.

"Fine. _Castle_ writes things worse than what she is reading. Besides she's nineteen, she's an adult." Beckett looked at the young woman. "Alexis, can you go get your dad's computer for me?" Alexis nodded and started for the office. "Make sure to be quiet. Your dad was up late working."

"Yes, mom." Alexis laughed as she walked towards the door that led to the bedroom. Esposito and Ryan looked at Beckett who shook her head while Martha smiled and sat on the couch behind Beckett.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" Martha asked her as the two detectives walked over to sit in the chairs watching.

"A bit. Rick." She paused glancing at the two detectives. "Castle. And I were up late looking through this stuff and trying to make a time line. I woke up a couple hours ago and started looking at this stuff again. There's something here that we're missing. I just can't figure it out."

"You'll get it darling." Martha assured her as Alexis walked back out with the computer and handed it to Beckett. She stood and walked over to the kitchen counter making the two detective follow. Beckett opened the computer that came to a password screen. She typed in the password quickly as the two men looked at her.

"You know his passwords? It's like you're an old married couple." Esposito teased.

"It's not hard to guess his password." Alexis said as she went around the counter to get a drink.

"It's the one thing he loves the most." Martha smiled from the couch.

"Kate Beckett." Beckett told them with a smile before she opened the file she and Castle had been working on the night before. "We have a timeline."

"You two were busy." Esposito smirked and he looked at the timeline. "But this still points to Gates."

"I know. That's why I was trying to go through the papers again." Beckett told him with a sigh. "She's tough but there's no way she would have murdered someone." The two detectives looked at her. They agreed with her but all the evidence pointed to Gates.

"How are you going to prove she didn't do it?" Alexis asked.

"I don't know. That's what we need to try to figure out." Beckett told her.

"We'll go to the precinct and see how far we can dig before Gates shuts us down." Esposito told Beckett. "We'll let you know if we find anything."

"I'll do the same." She nodded before the two men left. Beckett set her head in her hands after looking at the screen. "There has to be something." She sighed.

Esposito and Ryan sat at their desks trying to file through everything Beckett had shown them. They were still running a search for the man who was bailing out the dealers while they racked their brains as to what else they could do. They glanced up and quickly tried to find something to make them look busy as Gates walked over to their desks.

"What are you two doing? You have a case to solve and I expect to see something by lunch." She demanded and walked away. Ryan and Esposito glanced at each other. They were going to have to tell Gates that she was a suspect, but neither one was willing to risk their lives to do that so they decided it was time to lay the cards on the table.

"Beckett." Esposito heard after dialing Beckett's number.

"Hey, I think it's time to lay it all out." He told her. "She is getting more and more demanding for information and leads."

"Then tell her." Beckett said as if shrugging off Esposito's concern.

"Yeah, about that. I'm already on the edge of being kicked out of here for good, and Ryan's not going to step up to her…" He trailed off listening.

Beckett sighed before answering, "Alright, give me an hour and we'll be there. I'll take care of her for now but you have to get me something to work with when I come out." The two hung up and Esposito turned, giving Ryan a nod.

True to her word, an hour later Beckett and Castle walked from the elevator towards the desks. Beckett held several files as Castle held his computer under his arm. "I'll get it on the bored and see if we can get anything else." He told her as they stopped at her desk.

"What are you doing here, detective?" They heard making Beckett turn to face Gates. "In my office. Now." Beckett looked at the three men.

"Get me something." She told them before walking into the office and shutting the door. "I know you said to leave but I have a very good reason for coming back in."

"This I have to hear." Gates said sitting back in her chair.

"My team and I have been working hard on this case, we aren't leaving anything out." Gates opened her mouth. "Let me finish." Beckett told her. When Gates settled back, she continued. "The evidence we have gathered all points to a person, but we have been keeping it quiet until we knew for sure."

"You know who the killer is and yet you have been shielding him?"

"No, sir. You see everything we find points to you." Gates looked at her confused. "If we follow the evidence you would be the killer, but we don't think you would do something like this and demand so much of us to solve it if you were involved. We have been keeping it to ourselves so that nothing happens to you." There was a knock on the door before it opened and Castle walked in.

"Esposito got this. You're going to want to see it." He handed her several papers. Beckett slowly skimmed over the papers and nodded.

"Thanks." He nodded and left. Beckett put the papers on the desk. "This is what we were waiting to find. Something that points another direction. The other night we were going through the files and Castle found an reoccurring name. This is who it was."

"Ethan Jones. A known drug lord for nearly a decade." Gates said. "We could never get anything on him, could only bust his dealers on minor things."

"Turns out your friend had a restraining order in the works against him after Mr. Jones showed up at John's home with several threats." Beckett explained. "If we can match anything from the scene to Jones, you've got your collar." Gates nodded as Beckett walked out to find the three men watching, wondering what was going on. "Let's go get our guy." Esposito and Ryan nodded as they grabbed their things, Beckett saw Castle smirk as she stopped at her desk to drop off the files.

The team was off, screeching to a halt outside of Ethan Jones' home. Beckett pulled her Kevlar vest on as the other officers and two detectives did the same. She looked over at Castle pulling his own on. "I'm going with you." He said not letting her try to argue with him.

"Stay behind me." She said, obviously not thrilled that he was going in but she knew he would follow anyway. He nodded and the team made their way into the house, breaking down the door and surrounding the entire home. Methodically they make their way through the house until they come to a bedroom with a tall white man with black hair and dark eyes trying to climb from the window. Esposito grabbed him, throwing him to the floor where Beckett put her foot to his chest and pointed her weapon at him. "Try it, I dare you." She told him before he slowly raised his hands in surrender. Esposito turned him over and started cuffing him as they heard Ryan at the doorway.

"Beckett." She followed him into another room where there was a young girl with messy blond hair and green eyes dressed in dirty clothes was sitting on the bed, where Ryan had cuffed her and told her to sit with an officer watching her. "Found her in here trying to hide under the bed, with this." He handed her an evidence bag with a Glock 22.

"Same the victim was shot with." Beckett mused. "Get it to ballistics and take her in." Ryan nodded as she handed the gun off to CSU while he took the girl out. Beckett walked over to where Esposito was holding the man with Castle. "Take him in." She told Esposito. Esposito opened the car door and urged the man to take a seat in the officer's car.

"You got nothing on me!" The man yelled as Esposito shut the door in his face.

"The girl they found in the other room trying to hid under the bed with a gun, we're taking it to ballistics, but I have a feeling it's going to match. CSU is still going through the house and already for several kilos of heroin."

"We got our guy." Castle said

"Lanie should be able to match the heroin to the heroin in his system to the heroin found here. We have to wait for the evidence but it looks like we have the right guy." Beckett explained. "Let's go back to the station. Sit him in one box and we'll get the girl in the other, see what we can get from them." Esposito nodded before they all diapered back to their cars and went back to the precinct.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Beckett sat at her desk waiting for confirmation from Lanie and ballistics while Ryan and Esposito ran at the woman, who's finger prints turned up to be the longtime girlfriend of Ethan Jones, Marcy Bell. Gates looked out her office window at Castle handing Beckett a cup of coffee. She watched as Castle took his seat and said something making Beckett break out in a smile. Gates hadn't seen Beckett smile like that since she gained the position as chief. Watching a moment longer, she saw Castle stand offering Beckett his hand who took it without a second thought. The two walked towards the break room both smirking and talking low to each other. As they passed Gates' she heard Beckett try to stifle a laugh.

"Where's Beckett?" She heard Esposito ask another detective.

"She's in the break room with Castle." Gates said making him look in the office at her. "They just walked in." Esposito nodded before he and Ryan walked over the break room.

"Yo, Beckett." Esposito called as they walked around the corner and into the break room. Both men paused seeing Beckett and Castle jump away from each other. Beckett quickly wiped her mouth and cleared her throat. "You two better not have just been making out."

"What do you have from Marcy?" Beckett asked, changing the subject. The two detectives stood still looking between Beckett and Castle, trying to figure out what they had interrupted. "Marcy?" Beckett said a little louder snapping the two from their thoughts.

"She flipped." Ryan nodded. "She said they went there to scare the guy off, make him back off of their dealers, an argument started, vic ran for his gun but Jones was already shooting him and to quiet his yells they shot him up with heroin.

Beckett's phone rang making her walk over and grab it from the counter she had been leaning against. "Beckett." She paused listening. "Yeah, thanks Lanie." She hung up with a small smile. "Heroin matches one of the batches and ballistics confirm a match."

"Witness, ballistics, heroin… what more could you ask for?" Castle joked making Beckett roll her eyes with a small smirk.

"Let's go get an actual confession." She told him before leaving making the three men follow her. She grabbed her files from her desk and went to the door to interrogation. She paused waiting for Castle to join her before they went into the room seeing Jones leaning on the table looking angry. "Hello Mr. Jones."

"Save it. You got nothing, I want to see my girl and get out of this place." He told her as he stood up.

"Oh but we do. We have a whole lot." Beckett told him making him look at her. "You know John Taylor?"

"Don't know who you're talking about." Jones said as he tried to walk towards the door again. Beckett leaned against the wall by the door as Castle turned where he stood by the table.

"Wow, that was a quick denial." He said making Jones look at him. "You see. Usually people take a minute to think about the name before denying they know them." He explained.

"Denying that fast makes me think you do know John Taylor." Beckett added.

Jones looked back and forth between them. "Look, yeah I know the dude. He was a cop sweeping the hood, picking up everyone he could. Bastard picked up a few friends of mine and planted drugs on them."

"A cop planted evidence on random people." Beckett said.

"Yeah. I'm telling you all the truth."

"Well how about you sit down and tell us how your gun matched the bullets we pulled out of that cop?" Jones looked at her frozen before sitting as she pulled the evidence bag out and tossed it on the table.

"That ain't my gun." He denied. Beckett could see the guy was getting flustered and Castle knew to stay quiet when she had a suspect on the run. He watched as she walked closer to the table.

"How about you explain how the heroin we found in John Taylor's system was a match to a kilo you had hidden in a false wall in your house?"

"Look lady, I don't know what you're talking about!" Jones half yelled as he stood up looking angrier than when they first walked into the room. Castle stood in his spot, a few steps from the table watching as Beckett leaned forward onto the table to look the man in the eye, not flinching once.

"That's funny because Marcy already told us everything that happened." Beckett said lowering her voice. "We know every detail of how that night went, right down to what you had to eat for dinner." Jones glared harder at her but she never even blinked. "You are going down for this murder, so I suggest you start talking before I make sure spend the rest of your miserable life behind bars." Jones snapped, with a half growl he shoved the table into Beckett's legs knocking her forward onto the table.

As Jones slammed the table back into the wall Castle was already there trying to push back to stop it from hurting Beckett more as she caught her footing. "Kate!" Castle called as he moved. Ryan and Esposito ran in taking Jones to the ground and cuffing him.

"Stay down!" Esposito commanded Jones as other officers ran in taking him and other looked at the scene as Ryan and Esposito roughly pulled Jones up making him call out in pain before handing him off and going over to Beckett who was leaning on the table as Castle stood right beside her.

"Beckett. You okay?" Ryan asked making her look up and nod.

"Yeah, just didn't think he would move that far before I got my footing." She told them.

"Come on, go sit down." Castle said making Beckett nod. Castle wrapped his arm around her waist holding her close as he helped her move to her desk chair.

"This is so going to be bruised." She said making Esposito and Ryan nod as they followed.

"You want to go get checked out?" Esposito offered. "Make sure nothing is really damaged." Beckett shook her head as she sat down with a slight wince. "Well we have the evidence and a basic confession. Case closed. Go home and get some rest."

"I'm fine, I have paperwork to finish." She waved off his concern. "I'm going to be bruised up no matter what; I might as well get what I can done, before I can't move anymore."

"No." Gates said as she walked over. "You pack up, heal up and then come back. Your team can't function if you can't." She turned to Castle who was standing to the side. "Mr. Castle, I'm sure you can make sure Detective Beckett gets the rest she needs." Castle looked stunned for a minute before nodding to her. "Good. Now I don't expect to see you for at least three days." Gates walked away leaving Esposito and Ryan looking between Castle and Beckett, Beckett didn't look happy and Castle still looked a bit surprised.

Beckett and Castle looked at the two detectives. "You didn't…" Castle trailed off pointing towards Gates' office. Both men shook their heads. "How did she…?"

"Forget it, let's just go home." Beckett said, pushing to her feet and collecting her things. Castle took the keys from her hands making her glare at him.

"You shouldn't drive after a hit like that." He told her. "I want to get home in one piece, who knows if you'll be able to hit the break at a red light." Beckett crossed her arms and gave him a look he knew very well. "You can glare all you want or should I call your dad?"

"You wouldn't." She narrowed her eyes as he smirked at her. "Give me my keys or I'll call your mother." She threatened. The two stood glaring at each other before Beckett tried to grab for the keys only to have Castle hold them above her head. "I swear to god if you don't give me the keys right now you will sorely regret it, Rick."

"And how's that, you going to call mother?" He teased. Beckett grabbed her phone from her desk and started walking away.

"Fine, Rick you drive but you're going to regret it." She threatened but saw the grin that crossed his face.

"Of course I will. When do you not make me regret what I do, Kate?" He said as he followed watching her limp as she walked to the elevator.

"You think either of them remembered we were standing right here for that old married couple argument?" Ryan asked Esposito as they watched the two stop by the elevators.

"Night guys." Beckett called over to them as the elevator doors opened, the two waved back to her as they climbed onto the elevator. Ryan and Esposito watched as Castle said something to Beckett making the straight line of her lips slip into a small smile. She turned to look at him and he pressed a deep kiss on her lips as the doors closed.

"Well if everyone didn't know about them, they do now." Esposito commented.

"Know about who?" They heard making them turn and look at Gates who stood with her arms crossed waiting for an answer. She saw the two look between each other, trying to formulate a quick story. "I already know about Beckett and Castle." She confirmed making them look at her worried. "It was obvious something happened between the two when they were on leave that much is clear to see. I wasn't sure how far until just now." She explained.

"You're not going to kick Castle out?" Ryan asked, unsure of how to precede.

"Until he becomes a threat to a case, or to the lives of my people I believe it would be good for the two of them to continue to work together. As long as they continue to keep it professional here there is no reason to kick either one of them." The two detectives let out the breath they unconsciously held. "You two can pass that on to them when you talk to them." They just nodded as she turned and walked away.

"That was…" Esposito started.

"Unexpected?" Ryan supplied making Esposito nod. "Come on. Let's go, Jenny said she made pasta tonight and you and Lanie have to join us." Esposito smirked.

"I'll ask Lanie. You know how she gets after working." Ryan nodded understanding Esposito's reluctant. "I'll let you know." The two said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Castle helped Beckett into the loft and sat her on the couch making Martha and Alexis run over. "Oh darling, what happened?" Martha asked.

"The killer pushed the table into her." Castle answered.

"And you didn't stop it from hitting her? Richard." Martha scolded making Beckett stifle her laugh.

"It's not his fault." Beckett defended. "This guy moved faster than I realized and by the time I could even react I was nearly at the wall. If Rick hadn't grabbed the table when he did I probably would have more wrong."

"You've got to be bruised pretty bad." Alexis commented.

Beckett agreed. "I'm feeling it." Castle walked over getting two ice packs, wrapped them in towels and put them on her lap before getting her a glass of water and three ibprophen. "Thanks." He nodded and sat on the table in front of her.

"Kate, darling, why don't you go lay down for a while. Let the medicine take effect." Martha offered. "I'll make you some tea and something to eat." Beckett smiled and nodded. The last three months she learned to just do what Martha offered, you would wind up doing it in the end one way or another. Castle reached out helping her stand up.

"Come on." He said softly as she wrapped her arm around his waist and he did the same to her before they started for the bedroom. "I'm going to make sure their okay and I'll be in." He told her as he helped her change. "You're going to be really bruised." She said looking at the blue marks already showing up.

"Looks like you'll be punished for taking my keys after all." Beckett smiled as he gave her a pathetic look. "I'm sure I can repay you later for catching the table when you did." She whispered and bit her bottom lip. Castle leaned forward capturing her lips in a deep kiss that had them both oblivious as they leaned back onto the bed. Castle started kissing her neck and she brought her leg up to his hip before hissing in pain, bringing them both back to reality.

"I'm sorry." Castle said moving back as she sat back up.

"It's not your fault. I can finish, you go spend time with your family." She told him as she started pulling on her shorts and one of his t-shirts.

"Kate, you're my family too." He told her making her smile at him as he sat next to her.

"I just meant…." She shook her head. "Go spend time with your mother and daughter. You don't need me around all the time."

"Ah, but that's where you have it wrong, dear detective." She said softly as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "You see there's this thing called air and I need it to live, when you go away you take it with you. So you see I do need you around all the time."

Beckett started to laugh making him grin. "That is so corny." She laughed.

"But it always makes you laugh." He countered making her smile and laid her head on his shoulder. "I never would have thought I'd have you in my room, let alone have you to myself." He paused and felt her nod. He knew she never thought she'd be sitting there with him in his room either. "I love you Kate." He whispered.

"I love you too, Rick." She whispered back and felt his lips on her forehead. "Now go talk with your daughter and mother." She smiled and shoved him a bit making him smile. "I'm tired any way. I'm just going to get sleep."

"I won't be too long."

Beckett shook her head. "Rick, you sleep with me, you sit with me, go to work with me. Spend as much time as you want with them." He nodded and kissed her again before she maneuvered herself under the blankets while he left to talk to Martha and Alexis about their day before he grabbed his computer and started writing another portion of the new Nikki Heat novel.


End file.
